AgentVault

Budget controller for AI agents spending USDC on Base.

AI agents can loop indefinitely and burn through budgets without guardrails. AgentVault fixes this: each agent gets an isolated USDC wallet on Base (Coinbase L2), with strict spending rules enforced before every transaction.

Agent → wallet.authorize() → rules checked → wallet.commit() → on-chain tx
                                   ↓ denied
                            Discord alert

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Why AgentVault?

Problem	Solution
Agent loops → budget drained	Circuit breaker: N crashes in X minutes → automatic suspension
Transaction to unknown address	Configurable whitelist per agent
Uncontrolled spending	Weekly/monthly budget with per-transaction cap
No visibility	Discord alerts: approved / denied / low budget

vs xpay.sh (main competitor): TypeScript-only, SaaS, 1.5% commission per transaction. AgentVault is Python-native, self-hostable, zero commission.

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Quickstart

1. Install

pip install agentvault-budget

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/BigFoot3/agentvault
cd agentvault
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

2. Generate a wallet

agentvault init

This creates a .env file with a fresh private key and wallet address. Fund the wallet with ETH (for gas) and USDC on Base.

3. Use in your agent

from agentvault import AgentWallet
from agentvault.exceptions import BudgetExceeded

wallet = AgentWallet(
    agent_name="my-trading-agent",
    budget_usdc=100,
    period="week",          # "day" | "week" | "month"
    max_per_tx=10,
    whitelist=["0xABC..."], # empty list = all addresses allowed
    onchain=True,           # False = dry-run (no real tx)
)

# Mandatory pattern: authorize → commit
auth = wallet.authorize(amount=5.0, to="0xABC...", reason="CoinGecko API payment")
if auth.approved:
    wallet.commit(auth)
else:
    raise BudgetExceeded(auth.reason)

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Spending rules (evaluated in order)

1. Valid amount — must be > 0 USDC
2. Circuit breaker — agent suspended if N recent crashes
3. Whitelist — destination address authorized (if list defined)
4. Max per transaction — configurable per-transaction cap
5. Period budget — weekly/monthly cumulative not exceeded

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CLI

# Check agent status
agentvault status my-agent

# View transaction history
agentvault history my-agent --limit 50

# Reset circuit breaker (after fixing the underlying issue)
agentvault reset my-agent

# Generate a new private key and .env
agentvault init

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Project structure

agentvault/
├── __init__.py       ← public exports
├── wallet.py         ← AgentWallet: authorize() / commit()
├── rules.py          ← budget / whitelist / circuit breaker logic
├── notifier.py       ← Discord alerts
├── storage.py        ← SQLite persistence (WAL mode, concurrent-safe)
├── chain.py          ← real USDC transfers on Base via web3.py
├── cli.py            ← CLI: status / history / reset / init
└── exceptions.py     ← BudgetExceeded, WhitelistViolation, etc.
tests/
├── test_wallet.py
├── test_rules.py
├── test_storage.py
└── test_chain.py
.env.example
pyproject.toml

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Tests

source venv/bin/activate
pytest                      # 109 tests, ~7s
pytest --cov=agentvault     # with coverage

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Blockchain: Base (Coinbase L2)

• Fees: < $0.001 per transaction
• USDC: native on Base (Circle)
• Testnet: Base Sepolia — free ETH and USDC via faucets
• Faucets:
  • ETH Sepolia: faucet.quicknode.com
  • USDC Sepolia: faucet.circle.com

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Known limitations

• Single-agent per wallet: one private key = one wallet. Multi-agent setups require separate .env files.
• SQLite WAL mode handles concurrent reads safely, but authorize() → commit() is not atomic across separate processes on the same agent file. Fine for single-process agents.

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Self-hosting on a VPS

Runs on a Hetzner CX23 (€3.59/month) alongside other services. No additional infrastructure needed — one SQLite file per agent.

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Roadmap

• Budget / whitelist / circuit breaker logic (rules.py)
• Concurrent-safe SQLite persistence (storage.py)
• Discord alerts (notifier.py)
• authorize() → commit() orchestration (wallet.py)
• Real USDC wallet on Base (chain.py)
• CLI: status / history / reset / init
• Connect to a real agent (crypto-agent integration)
• GitHub Actions CI

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License

MIT — free to use, modify, and redistribute.